Spokane County Jail staff locate drugs, cellphone in cell of inmates with extensive criminal record

Drugs and a cellphone were found Thursday in the jail cell of two inmates with extensive criminal history – one an admitted gang member with a recent conviction of attempted murder.

The items were discovered by staff at the Spokane County Jail north of downtown during a routine check into the cell of Stafone Fuentes, 34, and Coby Adams, 40, according to a search warrant filed Friday in Spokane Superior Court by Detective Brad Richmond with the sheriff’s office.

Richmond writes that staff found the cellphone wrapped up in a blanket on a bottom bunk. The warrant does not specify in whose bed the phone was found. A phone battery was found in a playing cards box beneath the bunk.

Staff also found several “orange film substance” tablets with the marking N8 imprinted on them hidden in five bundles of legal paperwork, each one containing a tablet. After searching the website www.drugs.com, detectives determined the substance to be eight milligrams of Suboxone – an opioid strip often used to treat opioid addiction.

In the Grant County Jail, a Suboxone overdose was recently identified as the cause of death for one inmate. In August, 34-year-old Derek Batton died after Jordan D. Tebow, 35, allegedly smuggled Suboxone and Seroquel into the cell. He’s facing a charge of charge of controlled substance homicide.

Since June 2017, eight inmates have died in the Spokane County Jail, some still of unidentified causes. John McGrath, the director of Spokane County Detention Services, announced in early January he was stepping down voluntarily.

Jared Webley, spokesman for the county and jail, did not immediately return a list of emailed questions Friday afternoon.

Fuentes, who faces trial in the shooting death of a man outside the now-shuttered music venue The Hop! in September 2013, was convicted in June of trying to kill Titus Davis and Lamont O’Neal as they sat outside the Knitting Factory in February 2013.

Attempts to reach his attorney, John Stine of Counsel for Defense, weren’t immediately returned Friday.

Fuentes has three felony convictions and is a known gang member with a dozen felony charges on his record. Adams, who is jailed on a charge of drive-by shooting and second-degree assault, is scheduled to go to trial Monday.

In filing the warrant, Detective Richmond was hoping to find further evidence of accomplices who helped smuggle in the items.